The Truth About HTML5

by Luke Stevens

This is the book for web designers, web developers, and front-end coders who want to get up to speed with HTML5 in 2012.

This is the book that isn’t afraid to point out what everyone gets wrong about HTML5’s new markup, so you don’t make the same mistakes.

This is the book that will show you what rocks in HTML5 today and what the future holds for interactivity and video now Flash is dying.

This is the book that doesn’t think marking up a basic web page should be a quasi-religious exercise where the high priests of HTML5 must be consulted for their interpretation of the holy texts (the HTML5 spec).

This is the book that doesn’t pull its punches.

This is the book for web professionals who think for themselves.

This is the book that tells the truth about HTML5.

Genres: Nonfiction, Programming

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 17, 2012

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rarity amongst technical books in that Stevens doesn't try to paint HTML5 as a magic cure-all, but rather a specification with its share of half-baked ideas.

Steven's particular bugbear is HTML5's new sectioning elements, which he argues serve no purpose for users, screen readers, or search engines. After reading The Truth About HTML5 you'll swear off using `article` or `section` ever again. Before you do however, I'd recommend seeking some balance by reading Heydon Pickering's article The Importance of HTML5 Sectioning Elements (http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/20...) which specifically addresses some of Stevens' concerns.

The second half of the book is far less controversial, and is essentially a tour of HTML5's highlights - audio, video, canvas, etc. - with links to a lot of examples.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. He shares a lot of my feelings about HTML5, especially in regards to the new layout tags.

This book was a very easy read and I finished it in one night. It wasn't a short book, however, and was full of information and was entertaining.

I hadn't read a lot about canvas, svg, and HTML5 video and audio and this book brought me up to speed on what is going on with those.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. As someone who started coding in the late 90's, I found the first 150 pages or so downright hilarious.

I think this book might be a bit much for absolute beginners. He provides links to almost everything he talks about and it's not overly technical, but there were points where he clearly assumed the reader knows what he's talking about and I personally had to stop and google two or three things.

He spends a lot (A LOT) of the book talking about accessibility for the blind, which was actually really interesting. I didn't realize that document outlines were so wonky, and that I could fix a lot of issues with screen readers by using ARIA.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book to read. Often books about technology are boring and really hard to get through. This one is not that kind of a book. It handles its subject matter very well. I learned quite a lot from it. It is at the same time really fun to read.

I highly recommend this book to all web geeks.

[Khuram Malik · Rating 4 out of 5]

For budding html5 enthusiasts, i recommend this book to help you discern between the good and the bad when it comes to html5. Luke explains all of the new features in html5 and helps you to understand what should be taken seriously and what should be avoided like the plague.

[Sven Meys · Rating 4 out of 5]

No nonsense (well just a little) and to the point book that describes the goods and the bads of html5.